Due to hawks in the area, our song birds are non-existent this summer so I was wondering if our neighborhood Cooper's Hawk was getting exceedingly bold.
My eyes, even with my glasses, aren't quite what they used to be so I got a small pair of binoculars and had a look. Good heavens, it was a pigeon!
I went on about my chores for a time then looked again. It was still there. My supposition was that it was injured and I so informed Hub. "Just let him be for awhile and see what happens," said he.
Lunch time and it was still there. I called a local vet that I had heard has a person on staff with experience with birds. Sixty dollars to look at it I was told. I wasn't even sure I could corral it so I let things be.
After I had come home from an appointment Hub informed me my bird was gone. I looked around quite thoroughly and figured it had regained its senses or whatever had been bothering it and had indeed moved on.
Noon today I went out to feed the pond fish and there was my pigeon. Quite tame, it never spooked as I approached. There were bands on both its legs.
I remembered our friend who had the kennel where we boarded Bacchus raised racing pigeons so I called him and told him about the bands. "It could be one of mine", he said and within the hour was at our door with net and crate. Of course pigeon was long gone.
Leaving crate and net just in case he returned home and we went about our business. Later I went to re-pot some plants and heard a cooing. Where was he? Sitting on the rolled up window shade on our deck which it had well decorated. We played tag for a bit and finally I managed to get the net over it long enough to gather it into my hands and into the crate.
Off to the kennel I went. It wasn't his bird. It was a sorely depleted racing bird from perhaps as far away as Boise, the information was on the bands. "Don't you want to keep him?" my friend asked. "They usually don't want an errant bird back."
We figured it might have gotten off course during a trial run in a wind storm we had a few nights before and it ended up in our yard. Lots of seeds from the grasses and trees and lots of water from the pond and a pigeon for a sad story living at the address.
Sorry, I just can't take on a pigeon even though I rather liked this guy. It was sweet tempered, it's feathers soft and silky and it's cooing infectious.
My friend has promised to try to find where it belonged or, if healthy, perhaps keep it. I hope. I miss the song birds of summer but I'd not like the pigeon to suffer the same fate even though it's just a pigeon.
I know hawks have to eat too, but not in my yard - and not my pigeon!
2 comments:
How interesting! I often have mourning pigeons in my yard. But they aren't tame.
What a nice pigeon story. I've always been fasinated with homeing pigeons. We have had coopers hawks in our yard too. They are neat looking. But, i'm sure they were waiting for an easy mark.
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